Opie, Imus, Katie and other observations

Tom Jicha tv/radio writer

May 28, 2007|Tom Jicha tv/radio writer

Here is what I really think:

It's just business: The firing of Don Imus and suspensions by XM satellite radio of Opie & Anthony are not the result of their corporate bosses being disgusted by things they said. Both were nothing more than business decisions.

The timeline on the Imus controversy is the tipoff to his plight. The day Imus made his indefensible slur against the Rutgers women's basketball team, not a word was heard from CBS, which owns the show; MSNBC, which carried it on cable; or its parent NBC. It took Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson to get involved before any action was taken.

Even then, Imus was given only a two-week suspension. It wasn't until the following week, when advertisers began to withdraw that CBS and MSNBC blew out the I-Man.

Opie & Anthony were benched for a tasteless, sick fantasy bit involving Condoleezza Rice. This isn't supposed to happen on anything-goes satellite radio, but XM is trying to get government approval for a merger with rival Sirius and doesn't want to alienate anyone in Washington. The bottom line trumps all other considerations every time.

Speaking of which, no one is cheering louder than Florida TV stations for the January presidential primary. The period after Christmas is relatively soft but given the national prominence the Florida vote will take on, there won't be enough minutes in the TV day to squeeze in all the political spots the contenders will be trying to buy.

24 and counting: Prospects for a 24 big-screen feature, which at one time was going to be shot this summer, took a big hit because of the disappointing season that just concluded. Significant retooling -- Jack no longer attached to CTU; the setting moving from California; perhaps even a modification of the real-time format (which is actually surreal time) -- could be in the works.

Sleeping beauty Kim Raver isn't likely to be seen again as Audrey, either. She's starring in a new NBC midseason series, Lipstick Jungle. She was in ABC's The Nine this season and still managed to get back to 24, but this time there's an additional complication, albeit a wonderful one. She's pregnant with her second child, which isn't due until late fall.

Look for some tweaking on American Idol, too. The final couple weeks of this season, when ratings usually shoot up, were down substantially. It could be that this season's cast wasn't as interesting as some others or maybe the novelty is finally wearing off. But Idol is too important to Fox and the producers for them to sit around and pray this was just an aberration.

An obvious step would be to find a way to limit votes to one per person. The perception that the best singers are being sabotaged by serial callers has to be a turnoff to many.

Which is paid less heed: The pre-flight instructions aboard an airplane or the cavalcade of hurricane specials that local stations are going to air during the next week or two, well before the first likely storm threat?

The $15 million debacle: If Katie Couric were to agree to a buyout and couch it as "resigning to spend more time with her family," you wouldn't want to be between the CBS brass and the network checkbook.

Of all the mystifyingly silly things local news shows do, having a reporter on the late news stand outside a darkened courthouse to report a story about a trial that took place hours previously is the one that defies explanation.

Conveying the notion that the station goes to the scene of news events is absurd. The only chance news will happen at these scenes is if the camera person or correspondent gets mugged because they're the only ones around in a deserted neighborhood. This practice makes no more sense than the Sun-Sentinel publishing a picture of a dark, empty Dolphin Stadium to illustrate a story about the previous afternoon's game.

If any more people suddenly show up on the island on Lost, the Marlins are going to threaten to move the team there.